Philippines Coastguard Conflict

Who’s to Blame?

The Philippines coastguard fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat on friday, in an incident that left a crewman dead and triggered widespread outrage on the island.

The incident took place in Philippines waters and they were only carrying out their duties to stop illegal fishing and to protect its water, too long this has gone for and it’s good the Philippines stood up to these rouges and to send a clear message.

The incident happened just north of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the Balintang channel, which is part of the Philippines‘ territory and not claimed by any other country or Taiwan. This is part of the Philippines waters.

Philippines Sea Dispute

The 30-metre coastguard vessel initially saw two fishing vessels and tried to approach them. And the coastguard fired at the smaller of the two vessels to try and disable it, after it tried to ram the Filipino boat.
They disable the vessel, they were not aware at the time that somebody had been hit, the coastguard quickly left the area after it saw a third vessel, “a big white ship”, come into view. They felt threatened so they left the area, they should of stayed.

Now Taiwanese are saying the Philippines are in fault, they did not cross into the Philippines waters, and they want them to apologise, for what defending its water, serious!
“We demand the Philippines investigate and clarify the truth, to apologise, apprehend the killer and compensate,” he told reporters.

A similar incident In 2006, a Taiwanese fishing boat skipper was shot dead off the northern Philippines. Taipei protested then to the Philippines, over improper use of weapons.

Tension in the China Sea

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions around the region over rival claims to the nearby South China Sea. China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to parts of the sea.
China’s increasingly aggressive tactics to assert its authority over the waters in recent years have raised alarm among the rival claimants. And on Tuesday China had sent one of its largest fishing fleets into the sea. Lets hope this all comes to a peaceful ending, and stop all these aggressive tensions, leave the Philippines alone, we must stand up and protect what is ours.